Download BOOK REVIEW Ecological Imperialism by Alfred W. Crosby

BOOK REVIEW
Ecological Imperialism by Alfred W. Crosby
Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of
Europe, 900-1900
Author: Alfred W. Crosby,
Cambridge University Press,
Paperback, 368 pages, 1986.
Second Edition, 2004.
ISBN-13: 9780521546188
ISBN-10: 0521546184
Price: $28.99
The book is the Winner of the 1987 Ralph Waldo
Emerson Prize awarded by Beta Kappa.
Review by
Tapan kumar Mishra
Vidyasagar College, Kolkata, India
The earth has witnessed many ecological disasters. One of such has been
described by Crosby in his book. In this disaster the ecosystem people were
either eliminated or have been simply converted to ecological refugees. The book
being a precious one for the intellectuals working in the field of environment and
history of humanity has been widely read and referred. The book is also used as
a hand book by those who deal with history of human society. Crosby is basically
a teacher and researcher in natural history. During his academic career he taught
at Albion College, the Ohio State University, Washington State University, and
finally the University of Texas at Austin. He retired from the University of Texas in
1999 as Professor Emeritus of Geography, History, and American Studies.
Alfred W. Crosby was born in Boston in 1931. He graduated from Harvard
College in 1952 and served in the U. S. Army 1952-1955, stationed in Panama.
After his army service he earned an M.A.T. from the Harvard School of Education
and a Ph.D. in history from Boston University in 1961. His dissertation was
published as his first book, America, Russia, Hemp, and Napoleon, a study of
relations between Russia and the U.S.A. from the time of the American
Revolution through the War of 1812.
The book has eleven chapters namely Pangaea revisited the Neolithic
reconsidered, The Norse and the Crusaders, The Fortunate Isles, Winds, Within
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reach beyond grasp, Weeds, Animals, Ills, New Zealand and Explanations other
than Prologue and Conclusion. It has also an Appendix on the spread of
smallpox, a deadly disease that devastated the Australian aborigines in 1789.
Imperialism, defined by The Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the
creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial
relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on
domination and subordination.
The ideas of imperialism put forward by historians John Gallagher and
Ronald Robinson during 19th century European imperialism were influential.
They rejected the notion that "imperialism" required formal, legal control by one
government over another country. "In their view, historians have been
mesmerized by formal empire and maps of the world with regions colored red.
The bulk of British emigration, trade, and capital went to areas outside the formal
British Empire. A key to the thought of Robinson and Gallagher is the idea of
empire 'informally if possible and formally if necessary."
The term imperialism should not be confused with ‘colonialism’ as it often
is. Edward Said suggests that imperialism involved “the practice, the theory and
the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan centre ruling a distant territory”. He
goes on to say colonialism refers to the “implanting of settlements on a distant
territory”. Robert Young supports this thinking as he puts forward that imperialism
operates from the centre, it is a state policy, and is developed for ideological as
well as financial reasons whereas colonialism is nothing more than development
for settlement or commercial intentions.
Homo sapiens have been successful in invading different ecosystems of
the world even by pushing individuals of its own species. “We're a pushy
species”, Dr. Crosby observes. Human beings (Homo sapiens) push each other
around. And the human beings have done the same with everything else as we
have migrated all over the planet. But humans did not travel alone. We had
company, what Dr. Crosby calls our "portmanteau biota "(A portmanteau is a kind
of suitcase.). New Zealand's flora and fauna was radically altered.
Nature comments "Crosby has unfolded with great power the wider
biopolitics of our civilization.". Natural History praised the work of Crosby and
stated that "The biological bases of radically changing historical ecosystems
must never be forgotten--and Crosby has made them intelligible as well as
memorable." The Times Literary Supplement argues that "Crosby argues his
case with vigour, authority, and panache . . . 'Ecological Imperialism' could not
ask for a more lucid and stylish exponent."
Colonialism and commercialisation has a disastrous effect on
environment. Perhaps the success of European imperialism has a biological and
ecological component (Crosby, 1987). Crosby has also found that wherever
Europeans migrated they carried species (plants), animals, pathogens and
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Book Review: Ecological Imperialism by Alfred W. Crosby
weeds with them. Today, most of the weeds of the southern part of Australia,
where most of the continent's population lives, are of European origin. Sixty per
cent of the more important farmland weeds in Canada are European. In India
also the process of destruction of Himalayan forest ecology started as the part of
imperialistic exploitation of the third world. The one aspect of the deteriorating
forest ecology is the large-scale replacement of natural forests by the plantation
of only commercially profitable trees, which actually has started during colonial
era. These man-made forests are not capable of working in the same way as the
natural forests for maintaining the ecological balance. In some instances they
may injure the environment positively. Some species of Pinus and some other
species like Cryptomeria japonica (dhupi) were planted by the colonial forest
managers for its quick growing nature and commercial success without caring
the ecological acceptability.
It is often told that Crosby was not a Marxist because—as some body put
it—he was not that much of an optimist. But he through the examples put in his
book proved how the invader Europeans could be able to tide over the adverse
periods by exploiting the natives of the invaded new world. This invasion of
others’ territory till extinction of the native species even the humans is what
Crosby called as imperialism. According to him ecological imperialism has been
monitored by the Europeans and not a natural one.
Tapan kumar Mishra is the Principal of Vidyasagar College, Kolkata, India. Email:
[email protected]